| CQ: Politics of health care: Republicans vs AARP

CQ:-Politics-of-health-care:-Republicans-vs.-AARP WASHINGTON - House Republicans trying to thwart Democrats’ plans for a health care overhaul are questioning the motives of AARP, the 40-million-member seniors’ organization that the GOP accuses of putting its own interests ahead of its members’.

By attacking AARP, the Republicans are wagering that seniors who fear that proposed changes to Medicare will hurt them can be turned into a potent force against an overhaul — even if their biggest advocacy group is friendly to many of the Democrats’ ideas.

On Monday, House Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana and Dave Reichert, R-Wash., fired new salvos at AARP. Reichert said that the group, which collects royalties when its members buy AARP-endorsed coverage from private insurers, is helping Democrats kill off a private-sector version of Medicare called Medicare Advantage so it can collect more commissions from seniors who would be forced to find new arrangements.

Reichert said he asked Washington state insurance regulators for an opinion on whether AARP should be regulated as an insurance company. “It’s an open investigation,” he said.

And Pence said that AARP has won preferential treatment in the Senate health care overhaul legislation that he said would limit executive compensation for health insurers. Pence noted a “carve out,” or exemption, for AARP and other groups that have cooperated with Democrats on the bill.

“It’s a backroom deal where Washington Democrats are protecting executives at places like AARP,” Pence charged.

“This health care legislation doesn’t sound like a good deal for seniors, but it sounds like a pretty good deal for AARP,” he added.

Fraying for Years
Congressional Republicans and AARP leaders have been increasingly at odds for several years. The group supported President George W. Bush and congressional Republicans’ 2003 Medicare drug prescription plan, but then fell out over Bush’s plan to create private retirement accounts within Social Security.

When Democrats pushed an expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program in 2007, AARP proposed helping pay for it by cutting Medicare Advantage, in which private insurers provide seniors their Medicare benefits in place of the government. Democrats have long criticized the program, because the plans are paid more per patient than traditional Medicare costs. Nevertheless, the AARP proposal died.

Last week, AARP said it was “deeply disappointed” that the Senate blocked an attempt by Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., that would have averted a scheduled Medicare payment cut to doctors. Republicans uniformly opposed that measure.

And now AARP, while not endorsing any specific bill in the current health care debate, is collaborating with Democratic leaders. AARP’s executive vice president, Nancy LeaMond, appeared with Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., at an Oct. 23 news conference where Pelosi proposed closing gaps in Medicare drug coverage — the so-called “doughnut hole” — as part of the House’s health care overhaul bill.

Democrats are proposing to eliminate some $500 billion in Medicare cuts over 10 years, but say the money will come from eliminating fraud and other inefficiencies.

In the current fight, AARP supports cuts to Medicare Advantage. It wants the money to pay for closing the gap in Medicare prescription coverage that hits millions of seniors annually. But Republicans say getting rid of the private alternative to Medicare would unfairly affect seniors in rural areas who have signed up for the program in larger numbers.

AARP Response
AARP and Reichert have already had an exchange of letters about the congressman’s allegations. AARP says it is not an insurance company, does not employ sales agents and has not endorsed any bill this year. The group says it is working to get the best deal for seniors.

“While AARP is actively engaged in the ongoing legislative debate, we have not endorsed any of the bills now pending in the House and Senate,” AARP Chief Operating Officer Thomas C. Nelson wrote Reichert early this month. “We are fighting to protect and improve Medicare benefits for seniors and ensure future generations have the health care they need.”

AARP officials say the group would not be affected by the provision regarding executive pay that Pence alluded to — which would impose limits on the tax deductibility for top insurance company officials’ pay — because the organization is not an insurance company.

“We’re no more ‘carved out’ than any other non-insurance company is carved out,” said David Certner, AARP’s legislative policy director.

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| Top pay at bailed out companies to be cut

Top-pay-at-bailed-out-companies-to-be-cut

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK –
Top earners at financial and auto companies bailed out by the U.S. government will see their pay slashed under an Obama administration plan aimed at addressing public outrage over eye-popping paychecks, two sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The plan calls for halving overall compensation, and cutting cash salary payouts by an average of 90 percent, said the sources, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

The sweeping cuts, being negotiated by U.S. pay czar Kenneth Feinberg, would mark a bold move for an administration that has railed against excessively high pay on Wall Street.

White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers told the Reuters Washington Summit on Wednesday that he believed Feinberg's review would "produce an outcome where they will be very substantially reduced."

White House spokesman Bill Burton, traveling with President Barack Obama in New Jersey, told reporters, "The president put Ken Feinberg in place in order to be an advocate for taxpayers and it appears that Mr. Feinberg is doing what the president put him in place to do." Otherwise, Burton said, he would not comment ahead of the report, due October 30.

The companies affected are: AIG , Bank of America , Citigroup , General Motors , Chrysler, GMAC and Chrysler Financial. They all declined to comment.

A Treasury Department spokesman also declined to comment.

Blockbuster earnings and bonuses at Goldman Sachs Group Inc and other companies that received taxpayer assistance have stoked public anger over compensation as the United States grapples with a 9.8 percent unemployment level and little assistance for homeowners struggling to pay mortgages.

Feinberg, whose actions only impact companies that received "exceptional assistance" from the government, said on Tuesday that he may publicly disclose his rulings before the October 30 deadline. He could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

The Wall Street Journal reported that he also planned to demand broader corporate governance changes, including splitting the roles of chairman and chief executive officer.

AIG UNIT EYED

The sources said the top earners at AIG's financial products unit, largely blamed for risky bets that threatened the stability of the insurer, would not receive more than $200,000 in total individual pay.

That unit became the illustration of Wall Street insensitivity when it was revealed that its employees were receiving $165 million in retention bonuses, after taxpayers had pledged up to $180 billion to keep the company afloat.

In an interview with Reuters in August, Robert Benmosche, who became AIG's chief executive this summer, railed against efforts to regulate pay and criticism leveled at his employees, arguing, "You still need to pay people competitively."

Feinberg told a group of corporate directors on Tuesday that the bailed out companies have delivered to him a "consistent message" that they need to keep their pay competitive.

"You hear a great deal about the need for these companies to remain competitive," he said. "You hear that quite a bit."

Feinberg's review looked to be popular with organized labor and other groups, some of which have accused the administration of being cozy with Wall Street.

"I think he is right on the money and he is going after them as aggressively as he can," said Richard Ferlauto, director of corporate governance and pension investments for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

But, Robert Profusek, a corporate governance lawyer with Jones Day in New York, called Feinberg's review "very discouraging."

"I don't understand why it is in the taxpayers' best interests for us to be punitive in regard to TARP recipients," said Profusek, who advises banks and other corporate clients on executive compensation issues.

"Taxpayers have a big stake in them. Don't we want them to be nourished rather than seeking retribution, which is what this seems to be."

Feinberg is charged with approving or renegotiating pay contracts for the top 25 earners at the seven companies that have received "exceptional" taxpayer assistance under the Troubled Asset Relief Program .

He said on Tuesday that he has spent the past four months working closely with the companies "to try to come up with actual dollars that can be endorsed by these seven TARP recipients."

He said he believes he has "basically succeeded" in renegotiating pay, even for contracts over which he did not have explicit authority.

But Feinberg's decisions will not necessarily touch the Wall Street companies that have repaid TARP funds, some of whose bonuses are already returning to pre-crisis levels.

The administration has proposed a broad crackdown on pay, including giving shareholders more say on compensation packages and forcing companies to disclose more about their pay practices.

- | Top pay at bailed out companies to be cut |

| Coca-Cola 3rd-quarter profit declines

Coca-Cola-3rd-quarter-profit-declines ATLANTA -The Coca-Cola Co. said Tuesday its third-quarter profit rose less than 1 percent, as sales fell as consumers continued to limit soft drink purchases and the stronger dollar took a toll on revenue.
The worlds biggest beverage maker says it earned $1.92 billion, or 81 cents per share, compared with $1.92 billion, or 81 cents per share, a year earlier.
Results in the most recent quarter ended Oct. 2 included a 1-cent restructuring charge.
Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Co., the worlds largest soft-drink maker, says revenue slumped to $8.04 billion from $8.39 billion. Foreign currency exchange dragged down revenue by 6 percent.
Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, who usually exclude one-time items from their estimates, forecast profit of 81 cents per share on revenue of $8.11 billion.
Shares of Coca-Cola fell $1.04 to $53.75 in premarket trading.
In North America, case volume fell 4 percent.
Many consumers are cutting back on soft drinks for health reasons and switching to juices and teas. Coca-Cola said unit case volume for soda fell 5 percent in North America in the quarter, while volume of still beverages, including teas and juices, was even.
Sales rose in emerging markets including India, China and Brazil. Total international case volume rose 4 percent, which includes 37 percent growth in India and 15 percent in China.
The company said that a U.S. dollar still strong relative to last years third quarter hurt earnings per share during the quarter, because about 85 percent of Coca-Colas profit comes from sales abroad. A strong dollar dampens foreign sales for U.S. companies, because overseas sales convert back to fewer U.S. dollars. - | Coca-Cola 3rd-quarter profit declines |

| Sex sells breast cancer awareness message

Sex-sells-breast-cancer-awareness-message LOS ANGELES - A woman in a skimpy white bikini sashays next to a swimming pool. Onlookers gawk, mens tongues roll and music blares in the background.

The camera zooms in slow motion to her jiggling chest as a message spreads across the screen: You know you like them/ Now its time to save the boobs.

It may resemble a beer commercial, but its really a public service announcement for Torontos annual Boobyball party to benefit the charity Rethink Breast Cancer, and its gone viral, with more than 350,000 hits on YouTube. Its just one of the edgier ways awareness is being promoted among younger women during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Generally, with people my age, who watch MTV, theres no association between the breast and breast cancer. They think the boobs in beer commercials are different, said MTV News Canada host Aliya-Jasmine Sovani, 27, who stars as the bikini-clad gal and wrote and co-directed the clip.

But everyone uses sexy imagery for commercials, said Sovani. I thought guys would watch it because they would watch it naturally, and girls would like the humor and irony. ... We all like boobs, we all celebrate boobs, so lets save the boobs.

Similar messages are showing up on feisty T-shirt lines and at events aimed at younger women. According to leading breast cancer organization Susan G. Komen for the Cure, about 5 percent of all breast cancer in the United States occurs in women under age 40. Worldwide, about 465,000 women die from breast cancer each year.

Levity of boob jokes
Julia Fikse, a bubbly 37-year-old, started her cheekily named T-shirt business Save the Ta-tas in 2004 after years of working as a fashion designer at Levis, Gymboree and Adidas.

Her Southern California company now has 12 full-time employees producing T-shirts that proclaim caught you lookin at my ta-tas and I love my big ta-tas. Five percent of every sale goes to breast cancer research and awareness. About $340,000 dollars have been donated so far, Fikse said.

The idea came after seeing people close to her battle breast cancer.

Fikses grandmother had a double mastectomy in the 70s. In 2004, her husbands aunt was diagnosed.

For the first time in my life, I thought about what it must be like to lose your breasts and how horrible that must be, she said. My husband and I were in this dark place, thinking of her. Then we started to joke about boobs. The levity of the boob jokes turned that dark spirit around.

Fikse got a list together of 10 slang words for breasts, and bounced the names off of her husband. He laughed at the word ta-tas, and it stuck.

Mens involvement, noted Fikse, was paramount. Her company has T-shirts for men with slogans my girl has great ta-tas and save a life, grope your wife.

Men have an ability to take it into a sexual place very fast, Fikse said. But you can turn an awkward, sexual conversation into something awesome about breast cancer awareness.

A serious point
The PSA starring Sovani has obvious appeal for men, but it was created to promote Boobyball, the bash started by Amanda Blakley and Ashleigh Dempster in 2002 to lift the spirits of their friend Sarah, diagnosed at age 23 with advanced breast cancer.

The event, geared toward people 30 and under, has raised thousands of dollars annually. Thanks to the videos media attention, this years event sold out within 48 hours, Sovani said.

The tongue-in-cheek message makes a serious point, said Rethink Breast Cancer founder and executive director MJ DeCoteau: Information on breast cancer has been mostly directed toward older women. DeCoteau was 22 when her mother died from the disease.

I remember grabbing a pamphlet with a 60-year-old woman on the cover. Another one had a dark shadowy woman facing the corner. It looked quite fearful, said DeCoteau, now 39. Taking control of your breast help should be positive and upbeat.

The organization tries to reach a younger audience with initiatives like the Breast Fest Film Festival and the Booby Innovation Grant. Not everyone is comfortable with such boundary-pushing campaigns. Susan G. Komen for the Cure founder Nancy Brinker voiced reservations about using sexy imagery, though said she wouldnt discredit what anyone else does.

Brinkers organization recently started a Passionately Pink for the Cure fundraising program with Hanes and 33-year-old Scrubs actress Sarah Chalke, who designed a graphic tee after she lost her aunt and grandmother to breast cancer.

Why would we compromise our serious work with something that would offend somebody? asked Brinker, who lost her sister, the organizations namesake, to the disease at 36, and who was herself diagnosed two years later. We dont feel we have to shock. The disease is a shock.

Sovani brushes off comments that her video may be inappropriate.

Two days before the video shoot, Sovani learned that her cousin, a mother of two in her early 30s, had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She notes how proud her cousin is now of her, and the video.

Whether you love it or hate it, it gets people talking, she said. Breast cancer is scary. Were not trying to take away from that. But preventing breast cancer doesnt have to be scary. If its made to be scary, people dont want to check as much.

- | Sex sells breast cancer awareness message |

| Mich town to promise scholarships to all

Mich.-town-to-promise-scholarships-to-all LANSING, Mich. - A tiny rural school district where nine out of 10 students come from needy families is offering high school graduates $5,000 a year for four years to fulfill their college dreams.

Baldwin Superintendent Randy Howes will hold a ceremony on Tuesday to launch the program to 25 students set to graduate next spring. All students in Baldwin schools will be covered by the new scholarship offer of up to $20,000.

The community of just more than 1,000 people is the first in Michigan to follow the example of the highly popular Kalamazoo Promise, an anonymously funded scholarship that has attracted new residents to the city eager to get all or most of their childrens tuition paid at public universities or community colleges in Michigan.

Kalamazoos program has inspired at least 19 similar programs nationwide since its inception in November 2005, while more than 50 other communities are exploring the idea. Ten Michigan communities have gotten state approval this year to set up scholarship programs. But Baldwins is the only one ready to go as the new school year gets under way.

Community needs to raise $120,000
The community must raise the $120,000 needed to fund the scholarship for the first two years. After that, it will be able to collect a portion of the state education property tax revenue that residents and businesses pay. It also plans to look for outside funding.

Baldwin doesnt have a multimillionaire who can do this with writing just one check, or at least they havent found that person, said Chuck Wilbur, special education adviser to Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

Instead, the people and businesses in Baldwin have pumped in nearly $100,000 toward the project so far, including $17,000 pledged at school employees meetings just this week.

Weve had an outpouring of support from businesses and private individuals and graduates, Howes said.

Few communities need the boost for students as much as Baldwin, where the towns largest employer, a privately owned prison, shut down in 2005 after the state ended its contract there. Lake Countys unemployment rate is 18.7 percent, higher even than the overall state rate of 15 percent.

The area, about 30 miles east of Lake Michigan, was a stop on the Underground Railroad in the 1800s and is home to Idlewild, a former haven for black entertainment during the segregation era.

Were filled with lakes and rivers and streams and state forests and national forests, Howes said, noting the county fills up on weekends with 35,000 summer residents but doesnt have a single stoplight. And yet the community of Baldwin, from a profile perspective, looks like a lot of inner cities.

Generations of poverty
Fifty percent of the Baldwin school districts students are white, 42 black and 8 percent Hispanic. Ninety-two percent its 560 students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, and generations of poverty stretch across ethnic lines.

About half of Baldwin High School graduates each year go on to attend community college or a university, Howes said, a percentage he thinks will shoot up with the scholarship. Graduates can qualify for up to $5,000 a year for four years to help pay tuition as long as they maintain a 2.0 grade point average in college and carry a full course load. Part-time students can get smaller grants.

Residency is a requirement to get the grant. Students who have attended school in the district for four years can get the full amount. Those who have attended school for three years can get 75 percent of the grant, while those there two years can get 50 percent and those there just one year, a quarter.

Scholarships such as the Michigan Promise Scholarship — currently in limbo as state budget talks drag on — and federal Pell grants would be counted toward tuition first, with the Baldwin Promise scholarship filling in whats needed up to $5,000 a year.

The prison owners, GEO Group Inc. of Florida, are finishing up a $60 million expansion and hope to reopen the North Lake Correctional Facility soon, offering jobs paying at least $40,000 annually and giving those who might be lured by the Baldwin Promise a place to work, Howes said.

Its like the stars are aligning for Baldwin, he added. Theres a lot of really good news in a kind of glum economic climate in this tiny little rural place out in the middle of nowhere.

- | Mich town to promise scholarships to all |

| Gold eases from record but sentiment stays bullish

Gold-eases-from-record-but-sentiment-stays-bullish

TOKYO –
Gold eased from record highs on Wednesday as investors took profits, but sentiment remained bullish and a fresh record was within sight as the dollar's weakness and inflation concerns reinforced bullion's appeal as a hedge.

Both spot gold and U.S. gold futures have benefited from factors including technical buying, growing talk of countries diversifying foreign reserves or settlement currencies away from the dollar, and inflation concerns fueled by current massive fiscal stimulus measures and aggressive monetary easing.

"The driving force for gold's rally is the declining confidence in the dollar, which helped elevate gold's stature, along with the explosive growth in gold-backed exchange-traded funds which broadened the investor base for bullion," said Shuji Sugata, a manager at Mitsubishi Corp Futures & Securities.

"Technically the market is very much in favor of the bulls as nobody can complain about gold prices rising, so barring profit taking that may cap prices for a short time, the market looks set to test fresh highs," he said.

The near-term target is likely $1,050 per ounce, but the $1,040 level offers good profit taking opportunities and may prove to offer resistance that market players need to clear first, he said.

Spot gold eased 0.3 percent to $1,037.55 per ounce at 0030 GMT, retreating from an all-time peak of $1.043.45 set on Tuesday.

Most-active U.S. gold futures for December delivery were little changed at $1,039.3 an ounce, also down from an all-time high of $1,045 hit on Tuesday. December contracts settled at $1,039.70 an ounce.

Investment flows picked up as the market rallied to the record highs.

The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, the SPDR Gold Trust, said its holdings stood at 1,100.514 metric tons as of October 6, up 0.2 percent or 2.441 metric tons from the previous business day for the third consecutive day of increase.

The holdings rose to a record high of 1,134.03 metric tons on June 1.

"There was some profit taking initially, but given the fact that we continue to see further weakening in the U.S. dollar, people might be tempted to hold on and I think it will push higher," said Darren Heathcote of Investec Resources in Sydney.

Gold has gained about 18 percent in the year to date.

The greenback remained pressured on Wednesday after the U.S. currency slid broadly the day before as an interest rate hike in Australia underscored concerns the Federal Reserve will lag other central banks in pulling out of its loose monetary policy.

Also weighing on the U.S. dollar was a British newspaper report that Gulf Arab states were in secret talks with Russia, China, Japan and France to replace the greenback with a basket of currencies in trading oil, though big oil-producing countries denied the report.

- | Gold eases from record but sentiment stays bullish |

| Like scallops? Try a fresh take on the sandwich

Like-scallops?-Try-a-fresh-take-on-the-sandwich Scallop BLT sandwichCapital Grille - | Like scallops? Try a fresh take on the sandwich |

| Piece be with you: Detroit pastors pack heat

Piece-be-with-you:-Detroit-pastors-pack-heat DETROIT - The Rev. Lawrence Adams teaches his flock at the Westside Bible Church to turn the other cheek. Just in case, though, the 54-year-old retired police lieutenant also wears a handgun under his robe.

Adams is one of several Detroit clergymen who have taken to packing heat in the pulpit. They have committed their lives to a man who preached nonviolence and told followers to love their enemies. But they also say its up to them to protect their parishioners in church.

As a pastor, Im referred to as a shepherd, Adams said. Shepherds have the responsibility of watching over their flock. Do I want to hurt somebody? Absolutely not!

Responding to a break-in at his church Sunday evening, Adams surprised a burglar carrying out a bag of loot and shot the man in the abdomen after the man swung the bag at him.

The burglar survived — for which Adams is grateful — but the reverend said he could have been hurt or killed if he had not been armed.

Nations highest homicide rate
Detroit had the nations highest homicide rate last year among cities of at least 500,000 residents. The city has been losing manufacturing jobs for decades, and these days about one in four working-age residents is without a job.

The northwest Detroit neighborhood surrounding Adams church isnt one of the citys most dangerous. But there have been many recent reports of crimes in the area, including four burglaries, three auto thefts, one armed robbery and four assaults, including one with intent to murder.

Its getting worse because of the economy, Adams said. People are out of work and feel they have to provide for their families.

Prior to 2000, anyone who wanted to carry a concealed weapon in Michigan had to show a need to do so. Now, gun owners simply have to pass a stringent background check and complete eight hours of handgun training.

I get people from all walks of life, including pastors, said Rick Ector, owner of Ricks Firearm Academy in Detroit. But its not anything specific to pastors. Detroit is not a very safe place.

Michigan allows pastors to decide if someone registered to carry a handgun can do so for protection inside churches.

The clergy in Detroit who arm themselves say they do so because of the high overall crime rate. But churchgoers elsewhere have been the target of violent attacks several times in recent years:

Last year in a New Jersey church, a man fatally shot his estranged wife and a man who intervened in the attack.A pastor was found stabbed to death in August in an Oklahoma church.A Maryville, Illinois, preacher was gunned down during his Sunday sermon in March.In December 2007, a gunman killed two people at a Christian youth mission center near Denver and two others at a megachurch in Colorado Springs.Near Detroit, a man was shot to death in 2003 while worshipping in a Catholic church. And an attacker fatally shot a woman and wounded a child inside another Detroit church three years ago because of a domestic dispute.

I dont know what kind of issues people are bringing with them. You could be running from estranged husband, boyfriend, said Bishop Charles Ellis III, pastor of the 6,500-member Greater Grace Temple in Detroit.

Never carries a gun in the pulpit
Ellis said he sometimes carries a gun, but never in the pulpit. His church has a ministry of defense for Sunday services made up of about 18 armed congregants who are off-duty law enforcement officers.

Clergy are adjusting to society, said the Rev. Kenneth J. Flowers, pastor of Greater New Mt. Moriah Baptist Church in Detroit.

In addition to their faith, they are carrying weapons, said Flowers, who does not carry a gun. There used to be a time when everybody respected a pastor. Even a drunk would straighten up if a preacher came by.

Many people are uncomfortable with the idea of an armed clergy, because Christ preached against violence and taught people they should love their enemies.

But the scriptures also are clear that civil authority is part of Gods plan, said Claude Wiggins, a former pastor and current assistant at the Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary.

In our country, it says in due process that you may bear arms to protect yourself. While we should be committed to trusting God, that doesnt prevent us or command us to be totally passive, Wiggins said.

‘What would Jesus do?’
Al Meredith, pastor of the Wedgwood church in Fort Worth, said some off-duty police officers who are deacons at his church carry guns, but hes uncomfortable with the idea of an armed congregation.

It discourages the crazies from acts of violence if they see uniforms around, but I dont want everybody bringing guns, Meredith said. My ultimate conviction is what does the word of God say and what would Jesus do? Can you in your wildest imagination ever see Jesus packing a .38? I cant imagine Peter and Paul carrying .45s.

The Rev. William Revely, who sometimes wears his .357-caliber handgun while preaching at the Holy Hope Heritage Church in Detroit, does not worry whether it might be wrong for a man of God to carry a firearm in church.

Ive always felt that the only way to handle a bear in a bear meeting is to have something you can handle a bear with, said the 68-year-old pastor, who practices at a gun range with another pastor. We have to be realistic. I know too many people whove been shot, carjacked.

Adams said most — if not all — of Westsides 50 members have supported his actions after encountering the burglar.

People want to look at Christians and the church as believers in God and ask Why doesnt God protect you? Adams said. The reality is God has given man free will. We have to use our God-given talents and protect ourselves.

- | Piece be with you: Detroit pastors pack heat |